‘Jeopardy’ Rides Holzhauer Wave To An 8.3

In the super contestant’s last week before a two-week hiatus, the game show moves up 11% to its highest rating since March 2005.

By TVN Staff | May 14, 2019 | 12:49 p.m. ET.

The first full week of the May sweep was another strong one for Jeopardy super contestant James Holzhauer who won his 22nd straight game, pocketing a total of $1.7 million and propelling the show to its highest ratings in 14 years.

Although Holzhauer was sidelined beginning May 6 by a two-week tournament and will not reappear until May 20, the ratings for Jeopardy in the session ending May 5 spurted 11% from the previous round to an eye-popping 8.3 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen, its biggest tally since the week ending March 6, 2005.

In addition, Wheel of Fortune, which is pared with Jeopardy in many markets, also benefitted with a 10% bump to a 6.4. In between the two shows — running over Wheel but not as meteoric as Jeopardy — was full-season household ratings champion Judge Judy, which jumped to an eight-week high 7.2.

Also moving up was Hot Bench, which rose 5% to 2.2 and ranked as the third-highest strip in daytime, behind only Judy and Doctor Phil.

Phil widened its margin over the talk shows with a 7% spike to a 2.9, leading the category for the 139th week in a row.

Live with Kelly and Ryan made it 10 straight weeks as the second-highest talker, despite a 5% dip to a 2.1, while Ellen DeGeneres added 5% and finished third at a 2.0.

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Others in the top tier of talk were Wendy Williams, Maury and Steve Harvey’s Steve at 1.4, 1.3 and 1.2, respectively,

Elsewhere, entertainment magazines heated up. Leader Entertainment Tonight advanced 8% to a 2.8; Access accelerated 9% to a 1.2; and the recently renewed Daily Mail TV shot up 25% among women 25-54 and climbed 11% in households to a 1.0 to tie Extra.

Meanwhile, Dateline blew by the entire true crime genre for the 34th consecutive week, improving 8% to a 1.4 and surging 27% over last year.

The week’s top-rated daytime talk shows in the women 25-54 demo were:

Dr. Phil (1.2, +9% from the week before)

Live with Kellyand Ryan (0.9, -10%)

EllenDeGeneres (0.8, -11%), tied with Maury (0.8, unchanged)

Wendy Williams (0.7, -13%)

Steve Wilkos (0.6, +20%)

Steve (0.5, unchanged)

In the household rating rankings that follow, % change is from the previous week; * indicates a new season-high rating; ** indicates a new season low; NC indicates no change from the previous week; NA mean not applicable.

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